Aamna Isani tweeted, ‘This was a night to celebrate fashion, not judge it.’ Indeed it was. The fashion festival part of the Sindh Festival ( I am still not forgiving myself for not attending the movie screenings) , was one night that celebrated and how. The choreographed dance sections, the musical performances, the setting of the hindu gymkhana and the fireworks all came together in a beautiful array of a good show that was taut and timely ( a major task for these fashion events.. a big shout out to Tehmina and her team of take II).

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A display section had live models acting as mannequins with creative styling done by Ehtesham Ansari with clothes by different designers. What I loved about what he did with the clothes. From the array of designers I was impressed with what he did with Adnan Pardesy, Nida Azwer (loved the top knot, septum ring and sneakers with the gharara), and Arsalan Iqbal (making that formal jacket go so casual). It was probably the best part of the night and had me swooning over the quirky styling. Loved IT.

The collections presented included an impressive lineup and some impressed more than others.

BUNTO KAZMI: Bunto showcased her brilliant strength of handwork in her heirloom worthy pieces of shawls. The 8 piece capsule collection of shawls was enhanced by simple black tunics and pants, popping up the embroidered shawls for maximum impact. The hand embroidered shawls were investment worthy pieces that were treasure trove for any collectible person.

FNKASIA: Old wine in new bottle, Fnkasia refurbished its old collections to make it more ‘sindhi’.. the collection was the usual funkasia with splashes of color and in-house made accessories that they are famous for. Though they did not offer anything new, what caught my eye was a mini dress with an embroidered panel on neckline. Also the brilliant styling of nabila’s of including the unibrow in the look gave the collection an unusual a frida twist.

AMIR ADNAN: Amir Adnan’s collection of sherwani, kurtas and waistcoats was classic, chic and as usual tailored. The dark themed collection featured a range of pieces however the highlight was people including, Shehryaar taseer, Tapu Javeri and Fakhre alam amongst others making their appearance on the ramp. The collection surprisingly seemed to have a youthful outlook while striking the balance with being classic menswear.

NAUMAN ARFEEN: The black and white sherwanis of Naumaan Arfeen were styled brilliantly. With just two colors, Arfeen’s sherwanis consisted of embroidery of similar color, going in a self on self surface treatment effect. The menswear was wearable, chic and appealing. One of the pieces,a white on white embroidered kurta with a bandhgala offwhite waistcoat was fun and conservative at the same time. Also a big plus for making good aligarhi pajamas.

ZAHEER ABBAS: The man of the night, Zaheer Abbas was the only one incorporated ajrakh in his collection. Redeeming himself marginally from his last debacle of solids that he showed at TDAP, Zaheer made sure he delivers. Brilliant construction, excellent fittings, Zaheer’s collection was chic, with clean lines combined in with solid madder, white and black colors. The silhouttes moved on from tunics, dresses and floor length tops, to some fun constructed harem and crop pants. The capes and jackets of cotton ajrakh with solid pieces with minimum styling scored high on the style quotient.

UMAR SAYEED: Umar Sayeed showed off his couture collection of handworked garments with simpler silhouettes. However the collection was too bling. Was it OTT .. yes! but it worked for the show and attracted the maximum amount of eyeballs. He did not hold off any restrictions on the bling factor and what one got to see were safe empire line silhouettes that are replete amongst women for formals

The night was also filled with musical performances punctuated throughout the show which included Aktar Channar, Fuzon and well choreographed dance sequences. The night ended with an impressive display of fireworks against the brilliantly lit NAPA making it all look like a big Disney sequence from up close.

Nabila and her team’s creative styling was bang on point as she pulled off the whole show with aplomp. Be it the uni brows or clean side parted hair for men, she nailed it bang on. Omer Rahim’s dance sequences were good.

Tehmina Khalid and her PR company Take II was efficient and timely esp. starting the show on time and making sure everything was well done for. A big shout out for them for this impressive feat.